China will fall short of meeting its promise to buy an additional $200 million in U.S. products in 2020 and 2021, the New York Times reported.
It's only expected to meet 60% of the commitment to buy food, manufactured goods and energy and other products by the end of 2022, the story said. The commitments were made in a January 2020 trade deal with the U.S. China has cited the COVID-19 pandemic, shipping disruptions and factory shutdowns for its inability to meet the promises, the Times reported.
The deal called for "further consultations" if uncontrolled events caused either party to be unable to comply and allows the U.S. to impose additional tariffs if the two sides can't agree on how to move forward, the Times reported. Some U.S. businesses are urging President Biden to reduce tariffs on Chinese products imposed by former President Trump on goods from China which have driven up costs of to U.S. consumers, the story said.
As of October, the U.S. trade deficit with China was $31.4 billion, 13.7% higher than during the same time in 2020, according to the U.S. - China Economic and Security Review Commission.
According to the Times, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told reporters recently, "China's performance hasn't been perfect. What do we do about it? That's the million dollar question. That's the point of engaging with China right now. We're working on it."
The trade deal's phase one was aimed at reducing China's intellectual property theft and forced technology transfers in exchange for giving China greater access to U.S. markets, CNBC reported.
Trump said at the time that the U.S. and China were “righting the wrongs of the past and delivering a future of economic justice and security for American workers, farmers and families,” the story said.
Trump said the deal included “total and full enforceability," CNBC reported.